Then Vice-President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
When will our leaders stop talking about foreign despots as their best buddies? Hopefully today.
Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin offers President Joe Biden some good advice on his meeting today with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping.
Holding out smooth relations in exchange for a more passive U.S. approach is Xi’s go-to move. Like Obama and Biden, President Donald Trump also thought he had a genuine and close friendship with Xi. “We love each other,” Trump said of the bromance early in 2020.
“Biden risks falling into Xi’s trap,” Josh Rogin, Washington Post, Nov. 14, 2023
And Rogin points out that little is to be gained — the only upside being to show Xi that the U.S. is no longer as stupid as his past experiences with our leaders might suggest.
There is reporting that Biden and Xi will sign an agreement to curb Chinese fentanyl precursor exports to the United States. Never mind that Xi signed a very similar agreement with Trump in 2019 but never enforced it.
Talking with China is better than not talking. But Biden should realize that Xi is not his friend, and that the best way to avoid conflict with China is to show Xi he won’t fall into the same trap as his predecessors.
